Dhanvantri Award conferred on ayurvedic physician

Eighty-year-old Sharma is chairperson of the Maharishi Ayurveda Prathisthan in New Delhi as well as honorary professor and physician at the K G M P Ayurvedic College in the city . He has also been president of the Central Council of Indian Medicine, dean of ayurvedic medicine, University of Mumbai, and the President’s nominee for faculty of ayurveda, Benares Hindu University. Pandit Sharma, who was presented the award by the Governor, said ayurveda not only looked at cures and medicines for illnesses, but ways to prevent the illnesses altogether. Dr B K Goyal, former sheriff ofMumbai remarked that research in ayurveda was very poor in India, which was one of the main reasons why India had lost out on patents of herbal medicines to foreign countries. Besides, allopaths usually considered physicians their poor cousins, Goyal said.

In his address, Governor Dr P C Alexander lamented that a mere 20 per cent of the country’s rural population utilised state-run medical facilities, despite the fact that the state runs 17,000 primary health centres, 300 community health centres and 12 district hospitals. People still prefer traditional medicine due to an ignorance of allopathy, he stated.

Several people practise ayurveda with no formal training, but they could not be labelled quacks as they had some knowledge of the discipline, Alexander observed. Such practitioners should be made to undergo short-term courses and then allowed to practise medicine, suggested the Governor. ointing to the neglect of senior citizens, Alexander also stressed the need for courses in geriatrics.